UN chief intervenes as climate talks stumble

KATOWICE, Poland — Global climate talks have hit a roadblock thanks to deep divisions between developing and developed countries that threaten the outcome of the COP24 summit.

COP24 President Michał Kurtyka warned Tuesday night that the negotiations were “stuck.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Katowice Wednesday in a dramatic bid to unblock the talks, warning delegates they had only three days to “finish the job” and that failing to strike a deal would be disastrous.

“To waste this opportunity would compromise our last best chance to stop runaway climate change. It would not only be immoral, it would be suicidal,” he said.

The U.N. chief's appeal is a sign that the Polish COP24 presidency lacks the diplomatic muscle to force through a compromise on its own, unlike the powerful French effort three years ago in Paris that helped lead to a deal.

The Paris Agreement provided only a brief respite by pushing many of the most intractable issues to Katowice. Now those problems are back.

Guterres met China and the EU separately on Wednesday, in an effort to unlock the stalled talks, a climate diplomat said. The EU and China later met and agreed to draft a joint text.

In the wake of U.S. retreat from the climate process, the EU over the past months has focused its climate diplomacy on getting China to support a common transparency system applying to all countries' emissions reduction efforts — something that emerging economies have resisted.

Pairs of ministers from developed and developing countries will now wrangle over issues ranging from how widely to differentiate responsibilities between rich and poor countries; how much money wealthy countries will give for fighting the impact of climate change, and whether poorer countries will have ironclad promises on when the funds will be disbursed; and how developing economies will be incorporated into rules making climate actions more transparent, something that raises fears of foreign interference.

Agreeing on the rules

All of those issues are crucial to the goal of the COP24 summit — agreeing on a rulebook meant to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The splits between developed and developing countries have haunted climate talks for many years — the Paris Agreement provided only a brief respite by pushing many of the most intractable issues to Katowice. Now those problems are back.

Developing countries and emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa say that wealthy nations, which largely caused man-made climate change, are trying to water down finance commitments while demanding major concessions on reporting requirements.

"I expect more," said Mohamed Nasr, the Egyptian chair of the African group of negotiators, pointing to the huge financial needs of developing countries to implement their climate plans and restructure their economies.

But rich countries such as the U.S., the EU and Canada refuse to accept a return to a system that locks in permanent differences between developed and developing countries.

Instead, they want the same reporting and accounting rules for all countries to track and compare emissions reduction efforts over time, while giving poorer and vulnerable countries some room for maneuver. But that’s something that many developing and especially emerging economies aren’t keen on at all — unless they get more money and other support in return.

The EU insisted it is not backing away from earlier climate promises.

“Back home, that wouldn’t be most welcome unless it comes with benefits,” Nasr said. "The reality is, many countries haven't fully grasped how to implement" their climate plans. "A lot of countries just want to keep space to implement without feeling there is a stick. The carrot is the finance and technology ... You cannot have it all in the beginning — sticks, sticks, sticks, reporting, reporting, reporting."

Xie Zhenhua, China's chief climate envoy, said in translated remarks that emerging economies “are willing to be transparent because transparency is the basis for mutual confidence. But we have to take into consideration that developing countries vary in capabilities and we must admit that fact.”

Participants of the March for the climate rally during the COP24 summit in Katowice | Andrzej Grygiel/EFE via EPA

But he admitted the dynamics at the talks are difficult.

“We are in a moment of the conversation where everybody is not working for landing zones but only to defend their own position," he said. "The European Union wants to find landing zones.”

That's why the EU moved on Wednesday to revive the high ambition coalition crucial to the success of the Paris summit.

A grouping of the EU together with small island states, the least developed country group and a mix of emerging and developed economies such as Canada, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico, agreed to push for higher climate efforts by 2020. The idea is to conform to the findings of a recent U.N. scientific report aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a major sticking point during talks.